Protective collars are often used in veterinary medicine to prevent an animal from reaching parts of its body with its mouth. Perhaps most commonly, the collars are used with dogs, although almost any animal can be so protected. For example, following an animal being spayed or neutered, a protective cover may be placed around its neck to prevent the animal from biting or licking the wound dressing or exposed sutures.
Usually these collars are cut from a single piece of plastic a few millimeters thick and formed into the shape of cones around an animal's neck so that the narrow portion of the cone surrounds the animal's neck and the wider portion extends to the top of the animal's head or further. The body of the cone thereby forms a physical impediment to the animal reaching parts of its body. Once secured, the narrow portion of the cone, being more narrow than the animal's mandible, should prevent the animal from getting out of the collar. Due to the general appearance of the protective collar in use, they are often called “Elizabethan collars.”
These collars are most often made from a sheet of somewhat flexible plastic; and, since the basic design can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost, there are several manufacturers in the market. Even so, the art describes variations on the general theme of Elizabethan collars. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,764 discloses adjustable collars that can be reapplied after removal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,414 discloses a variation wherein the collar is designed to allow water to freely flow out of it so that although an animal's head is blocked, it can still be safely washed. U.S. D632851 is another example of a patent claiming a design of an Elizabethan collar.
Other patents have disclosed other styles of Elizabethan collars using materials and methods that are less likely to irritate the animal where the collar touches its neck. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,046 discloses an inflatable collar with an optional foam layer that can be placed on an animal without having to slide the collar over the animal's neck. U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,814 discloses a collar comprising a solid foam and an adjustable closing means. A recovery collar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,802 that comprises a doughnut shaped pillow held in place by a drawstring laced through a shawl that extends into the center hole of the pillow. U.S. Pat. No. 8,042,494 discloses an Elizabethan collar, similar in some respects to the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,764, but that comprises sheets of a flexile material and a sheet of a resilient material so that the resulting collar resists deformation, but also yields to reduce irritation to the animal's neck region.
Elizabethan collars formed of ridged plastic may irritate an animals neck, but they are effective and comparatively simple and lower-priced than the other options that are formed out of softer materials. Unfortunately, using softer, less irritating materials may lessen the effectiveness of the collar and permit the animal to reach parts of its body with it's tongue and teeth.